Method and apparatus for slitting panty hose

ABSTRACT

THIS INVENTION IS DIRECTED TO THE MANUFACTURE OF PANTY HOSIERY FOR LADIES, AND MORE PARTICULARLY TO AN IMPROVED METHOD AND APPARATUS WHEREBY A PORTION OF EACH STOCKING IS SLIT DURING THE KNITTING PROCESS, RATHER THAN IN A SEPARATE OPERATION AFTER THE KNITTING IS COMPLETED.

Feb. 23, 1971' F, T. B ANE 3,564,873

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SLITTING PANTY HOSE Filed July 50,- 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

FRANK T. BEANE "F. T'. BEANE METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SLITTING PANTY'HOSE Feb. 23, 1971 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July (50, 1968 INVENTOR.

FRANK T. BEANE BY A.

FIG.

Feb. 23, 1971 T, BEANE, 7 3,564,873

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SLITTING PANTY HOSE Filed Jul 'so. 1968 5 Sheets-Sheet s i i 44 :--1 L 3 l T A 46 I FIG. 5-D

v i 46 3B- 40 42,' E: $9 In 4 FIG. 5-B F|G.5-A FlG.5-C

FIG. 6

United States Patent Ofice 3,564,873 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SLITTING PANTY HOSE Frank T. Beane, Concord, N.C., assignor of fifty-one percent to Ralph B. Jones, Greensboro, N.C., and nine percent to Textile Metals & Plastics, Inc., Greensboro,

N .C., a corporation of North Carolina Filed July 30, 1968, Ser. No. 748,720 Int. Cl. D04b /06 US. Cl. 66-107 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention is directed to the manufacture of panty hosiery for ladies, and more particularly to an improved method and apparatus whereby a portion of each stocking is slit during the knitting process, rather than in a separate operation after the knitting is completed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, panty hose have become increasingly popular, especially among ladies who wear a foundation garment, not for purposes of enhancing their figure, but only as a means to retain their stockings in the desired position. Moreover, panty hose eliminates the possibility of the upper stocking edge being visible when worn with a short skirt. According to standard practices in the industry today, in the manufacture of panty hose, a stocking is knit on a circular knitting machine in the standard manner, except that the leg is elongated, the upper end of the leg is then slit, and the stocking is subsequently sewed together with a second similar stocking, forming the panty hose. The stockings may be fastened to each other directly or a separate crotch piece may be used if desired, however in any case, it is still necessary to slit each stocking.

The separate slitting operation described above requires extra time, and is estimated to cost the manufacturer between ten and thirteen cents per dozen. It is therefore apparent that it would be more expedient of the stocking could be slit during the knitting operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention, therefore, is directed to a method whereby a slit is formed in each stocking of the panty hose as it is being knit. This improved method includes the use of a special sinker in one of the sinker dial slots at each knitting station, said sinker adapted to sever the loop formed thereover (hereafter called a sinker loop) rather than to permit the completion of the stitch. Thus, in each of a predetermined number of courses, a sinker loop is severed which would ordinarily be knit, and as the courses are formed, a slit forms walewise in the stocking leg. Who the slit has been formed from the upper edge of the stocking leg to a desired depth, a cam in the sinker cap engaging the special sinker is manipulated so that the special sinker performs a knitting function rather than cutting one of the stitches and thereby eliminates the slit throughout the remainder of the leg.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved method for manufacturing panty hose whereby a slit is formed in each stocking leg during the knitting operation, and two stockings are subsequently sewed together.

It is another object of this invention to more economically manufacture panty hose by eliminating the separate operation of slitting the fabric after the garment is knit.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide an apparatus for slitting the legs of panty hose during the knitting thereof, such apparatus including a special sinker 3,564,873 Patented Feb. 23, 1971 which severs-one of the loops formed thereover in each course to form a slit in the upper leg portion of the stocking being knit.

It is yet another and more specific object of this invention to provide an apparatus for slitting a portion of a tubular knit fabric during the knitting thereof, wherein a special sinker is used in cooperation with a pair of ad jacent needles to sever the yarn held in tension between the two needles. A special cam in the sinker dial cap is adapted to move the special sinker radially inwardly a greater distance during the forming of the slit than during the forming of the rest of the fabric.

Other objects, features and advantages will appear from the drawing and description hereinafter given.

FIG. 1 is a side view showing the inside of one leg of a panty hose having a slit therein formed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 1A is a front view of a pair of panty hose formed from components shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of a sinker dial showing several regular sinkers and one special sinker for forming the slit in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an elevation view with parts broken away showing the operation of the special sinker within the sinker bed and sinker cap;

FIG. 4 is a view partly in section and partly in perspective showing the inside of a portion of the sinker cap;

FIG. 5A is a plan view of the special eccentric cam in lthe sinker cap which engages the butt of the special Sll'l er;

FIG. 5B is an end view of the cam shown in FIG. 5A looking at one end thereof; I

FIG. 5C is a view similar to FIG. 5B except looking at the other end;

FIG. 5D is an elevation view of the cam shown in FIG. 5; and

FIG. 6 is a side elevation on an enlarged scale showing the relation of a regular sinker with the cams in the sinker p;

FIG. 7 is a side elevation on an enlarged scale showing the relation of the special sinker to the eccentric cam, said cam being positioned for using the special sinker to knit rather than to sever.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown one leg 10 of a panty hose, and it is to be understood that hereafter in the specification and claims a stocking or leg 10 is considered to be the tubular portion knit for panty hose which includes both a standard length leg and an upper extension or body member 12. According to prevailing practices in the industry today, the upper extension 12 is slit after the knitting operation is completed, whereupon a pair of stockings 10 are then sewn together along the edges of slit 14, using a crotch piece if desired, to form seam 15. (FIG. 1A.) According to the present invention, slit 14 is formed during the knitting operation, rather than as a separate operation taking place after the stocking has been completely knit.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, the knitting machine comprises a conventional rotary needle cylinder 16 having a circle of needles 18 mounted therein. A sinker bed 20 rotates with the needle cylinder and is covered by a stationary sinker cap 22. Sinker bed 20 includes a series of parallel radial slits 23 through the upper wall thereof, slits 23 being adapted to carry a plurality of sinkers 24 of standard construction, and one sinker 26 of special construction associated with each knitting station. As is evident from FIG. 2, special sinker 26 is similar to the standard sinkers 24, except the butt 28 is both longer and narrower, for reasons to be hereinafter described.

The standard sinkers 24 respond to the action of throwin cam 30 and throw-out cam 32 to move them to and from a knitting position. To move the sinkers 24 into the knitting position, the butts 25 bear against throw-in cam 30 which urges the sinkers radially inwardly to the knitting position where butts 25 are stopped by throw-out cams 32. In such a position (dotted lines in FIG. 3) the sinkers provide a means for forming a sinker loop by holding the thread extending between adjacent needles as the needles themselves drop below the level of edge 34 on sinkers 24 to form a stitch loop wherein the stretch is taken out of the yarn. As the needles are then raised to their uppermost position to catch a new strand, nib 36 urges the newly formed loop out of the needle hook and onto the needle shank. On the other hand, special sinker 26, because of the narrower and longer butt 28, is engaged by special cam 38 in its slitting position and moved to a position inwardly spaced from the position of the remaining sinkers 24, so that the special sinker actually severs the yarn under tension between two adjacent needles forming two thread ends 17 and 17. The sinker loop which would normally be formed is thereby severed by special sinker 26. One special sinker 26 is associated with each feeding station and located at the same relative position at each station, so that on successive courses, a vertically aligned series of loops is severed, forming a walewise slit 14.

It is seen from FIGS. 2 and 3 that special sinkers 26 have a butt 28 which is both longer and narrower than the remaining sinkers 24 in sinker bed 20, and a special eccentric cam 38 in sinker cap 22 actuates only the special sinkers 2'6 and passes over the tops of the butts 25 of the regular sinkers.

FIG. 4 shows a view of the interior of the sinker cap with throw-in cams 30, throw-out cams 32 and special eccentric cam 38. It is evident from FIGS. 3 and 4 that throw-in cam 30 and throw-out cam 32 extend downwardly far enough to engage the butts of standard sinkers 24 as well as the butts of special sinker 26. The special eccentric cam 38 extends downwardly from the inner surface of sinker cap 22 only a sufiicient distance to engage the longer butt 28 of special sinker 26, Therefore, although butts 25 of the standard sinkers 24 can be activated only by throw-in cams 30 and throw-out cams 32, butt 28 of special sinker 26 is activated by special cam 38 as well as regular cams 30 and 32.

FIGS. A through 5D illustrate an embodiment of the special eccentric cam 38, wherein the cam comprises a bi-level body portion 40 preferably having a generally curved periphery with a shaft 42 extending upwardly from one surface thereof. The shaft 42 is attached to said cam surface at a point offset from the center of said body 40. The opposite surface of body portion 40 comprises a lower level 44 and an upper level 46 with an obliquely extending bearing surface 48 adjoining the. two levels. To be more specific, when eccentric cam 38 is mounted in the sinker cap 22, the path of bearing surface 48 is parallel to the path of the bearing surfaces of throw-in cam 30 and throw-out cam 32, and spaced slightly inwardly therefrom towards the center of the trackway formed by cams 30 and 32.

Shaft 42 extends through sinker cap 22 as shown in FIG. 3, whereby it may be acted upon by levers and jacks in a well known manner (not shown) to turn shaft 42 through an 180 arc. This causes a reciprocal, pivotal movement of cam 38 between a first position (FIG. 3) wherein sinker 26 is caused to slit the corresponding loop and a second position wherein sinker 26 is urged inwardly only to a knitting position (see FIG. 7). The bearing surface 48 of eccentric cam 38 in the first position acts as an auxiliary throw-in cam which engages the longer butt 28 of special sinker 26 and urges the sinker radially inwardly until the front edge of butt 28 engages the bearing surface of throw-out cam 32. (See FIG. 2.) During such movement, the sinker nib 36 moves radially inward 4 past the thread which is held between the needles 18 on either side of sinker 26, severing the thread as it passes.

When the eccentric cam 38 is pivoted to its second position( FIG. 7), bearing surface 48 becomes an auxiliary stop surface spaced slightly inwardly into the trackway from throw-out cam 32, retaining the butt 28 of special sinker 26 short of the point where the butts 25 of the regular sinkers are stopped. As a result the nib 36 of special sinker 26 is aligned with nibs 36 of the regular sinkers 24. In such a position, a track'way for the special sinker 26 is formed between the regular throw-in cam 30 and the special eccentric cam 38 acting as an auxiliary stop member, whereby the sinker serves a knitting function rather than acting as a severing edge.

As shown in FIG. 6, the top edge of the regular sinkers 24 is entirely below the level of eccentric cam 38 and completely unaffected thereby.

In operation each stocking of a pair of panty hose is knit in the following manner. During the initial stage of knitting the upper body portion 12 of the stocking 10, eccentric cam 38 is in the first or cutting position, that is it is in the position Where bearing edge 48 will engage special sinker butt 28 and urge it inwardly far enough so that its nib 36 is at a position inwardly disposed from the nibs of the other sinkers and severs the thread as it passes over the sinker forming one of the sinker loops in each course of the stocking. When the slit 14 has been formed to a prescribed length, eccentric cam 38 is automatically pivoted by a lever controlled from the pattern drum, so that the special sinker becomes a regular knitting sinker, and its path follows the trackway between throw-in cam 30 andbearing surface 48 of eccentric cam 38. In this second position the cam 38 controls special sinker 26 so that its inner portion and nib are aligned with the remainder of the regular sinkers 24 around the sinker dial 20.

Eccentric cam 38 may be operated in any well known manner known in the knitting art. For example, there may be a cam surface on the pattern drum which operates a lever positioning the eccentric cam 38 in a first or cutting position thrOughOut the knitting of the upper part of the stocking, then reciprocates the cam to a second or knitting position throughout the knitting of the lower portion of the stocking. The eccentric cam 38 may alternatively be operated by an electric or pneumatic means or by any other means well known in the art.

There is thus provided a method and apparatus Whereby each stocking of a pair of panty hose is slit while the stockings are being knit, rather than in a subsequent, separate operation.

Although a particular embodiment of the present invention has herein been illustrated and described, it is not intended to limit the invention to such disclosure, the invention being limited only by the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a circular knitting machine having a rotary needle cylinder, a sinker bed rotatable with said cylinder, a relatively fixed sinker cap and at least one relatively fixed feed station, an apparatus for forming a slit in a tubular knit fabric during the knitting operation comprising:

(a) a special sinker movable to two innermost positions, one position being a severing position and the other position being a knitting position, and a plurality of regular sinkers positioned in said sinker bed;

(b) means in a first position for urging said special sinker to said severing position spaced radially inwardly from the innermost position of said fabric, whereby said special sinker severs the thread which would normally form one sinker loop in a course of the fabric being knit thereon; and

(c) said means movable to a second position whereby said special sinker is urged to approximately the same innermost position as that occupied by said regular sinkers during the knitting of the remainder of said fabric.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said special sinker comprises a butt that is longer and narrower than the butts of said regular sinkers.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said means for urging said special sinker to a severing position spaced radially inward from the innermost position of said regular sinkers comprises a cam mounted in a first position in said sinker cap and having a bearing surface which engages only the butt of said special sinkers to urge them inwardly to said severing position.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said cam is selectively movable to a second position wherein said bearing surface engages only the butt of said special sinker and stops said special sinker at a point wherein the nib of said special sinker is in the same relative position as the nibs of said regular sinkers, whereupon said special sinker performs a knitting function rather than severing the thread.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said cam is operated between said first and saidsecond position by a lever responsive to the setup of a pattern drum.

6. -A method of forming a tubular fabric having a walewise slit in a selected portion thereof on a circular knitting machine having needles and radially advancing sinkers comprising:

(a) feed the yarn to the needles of the knitting machine;

(b) manipulating said needles to draw the yarn into stitches over said radially advancing sinkers; and

(c) advancing the thread engaging portion of a selected sinker radially between two of said needles beyond the position to which the corresponding of the remaining sinkers are advanced, so as to effect the severing of the yarn drawn over said selected sinker.

7. The method according to claim 6 wherein said severing step is terminated after a portion of the tubular fabric has been knit, whereupon the remainder of the fabric is knit completely around each course.

8. The method according to claim 6, whereupon said selected sinker is moved to approximately the same radial position as the regular sinkers and is used as a regular knitting sinker throughout the knitting of the lower portion of the stocking after said slit has been formed to a prescribed length.

9. The method according to claim 6 wherein step (c) is repeated a selected number of times to form said walewise slit in said selected portion of the tubular fabric.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,441,110 1/1923 OLena 6693 2,184,088 12/1939 Weinberg 6693 2,995,912 8/1961 Payne et al 66147 2,995,021 8/1961 Payne et a1 66147 3,019,627 2/1962 Linder et a1. 66-91 3,104,537 9/1963 Fregeolle 66108 3,209,557 10/1965 Lagerweij 6654X 3,342,042 9/1967 Sheek et al. 66108 3,362,196 1/1968 Hin 66-108 3,430,462 3/1969 Nebel et al. 66108X RONALD FELDBAUM, Primary Examiner 7 US. 01. x1e. 66108, 177

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent 3 .564 .873 Dated February 7", IQ7L Inventor-(s) r nk T Beane It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 4, line 67, after "position" insert of said regular sinkers during the knitting of a portion Signed and scaled this 20th day of July 1971 (SEAL) Attest:

WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. Commissioner of Pate Attesting Officer 

